I think there was a part of us all that was hoping the Boston Red Sox would go on a nice winning run after beating the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Or maybe that was my dream.
Either way, that’s not happening right now as the Mariners went on to beat the Red Sox 2-1 last night. With the loss, the Red Sox finish up the nine game road trip at 1-8.
Aaron Cook started this one for the visiting nine and wssn’t all that bad. He struck out a season high five batters. The problem was he had one bad inning and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
The first three batters he faced in the 4th inning reached base as Eric Thames singled, Mike Carp walked and Casper Wells singled to load the sacks full of Mariners. Cook then got Brendan Ryan to pop out to Jose Iglesias at short but Dustin Ackley followed with a two-run single. Cook avoided any further damage by getting the final two batters on groundouts to James Loney at first.
Offensively the Red Sox had their chances but were only able to capitalize once. That one time came in the 6th inning.
Dustin Pedroia reached on a lead-off walk but was retired on a Jacoby Ellsbury fielder’s choice. Ellsbury then stole second and came around on a Cody Ross double. Ross ended up with three hits on the night to lead the offense. But that was the only run the Red Sox would get.
As I said, they had their chances before and after they scored their only run.
In the 2nd inning, they had runners on first and second with out only to see Ryan Lavarnway ground into a double play. In the 4th inning, they had the bases loaded with two outs only to see Lavarnway ground out. And in the 8th, Ellsbury was on second base with two outs but Loney struck out.
With the west coast swing over, the Red Sox return home where they have sucked as well. They’ll now play their fellow AL East teams for the rest of the season. And that means they can exact some revenge by playing spoiler. Or at least we hope they will.
You just never know with this team.
The Red Sox are off today as they spent the overnight on a plane back from Seattle. We’ll be back in a bit with the pitching matchups for the series with the Toronto Blue Jays. So for now, let’s take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
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Strain shows in Valentine’s words [boston globe]
The Farrell conversation begins with compensation [boston globe]
More help on horizon [boston globe]
Sox trip ends with a fall [boston herald]
Bobby Valentine in misery [boston herald]
One more lost year for Ryan Kalish [boston herald]
Red Sox end road trip with 2-1 loss to Mariners [csn new england]
Kalish: ‘It’s been a tough year’ [csn new england]
Farrell’s coming to town; let the speculation begin [csn new england]
Rapid Reaction: Mariners 2, Red Sox 1 [espn boston]
Dismal trip comes to merciful end [espn boston]
Bobby Valentine seems to be down for count [espn boston]
Bobby Valentine’s Facetious Fightin’ Words Underscore Frustration of Tough Season [nesn.com]
Joe Maddon Fires Back at Bobby Valentine With Subtle Jabs, Calls Whole Situation ‘Very Amusing’ [nesn.com]
Stunning reversal: Ten months later, Bobby Valentine’s dream job seems nightmarish [alex speier – weei.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Everett Herald, Seattle Times and Tacoma News Tribune websites.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
photo credit: getty images
